Poem ~ Actress On The Frontline - Thursday, 18 May 1916

Source: File: Sarah Bernhardt on the Western Front during WW1 with two companions and some French officers. [online] See an original image at: <http://inspirationalwomenofww1.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/sarah-bernhardt-1841-1923-french-actress.html> [Accessed: 18 May 2016]

Born Paris Rosine Bernardt

Flourished as an actress,

Having changed her name

To Sarah Bernhardt

From 1862 - life in Belgium

Developed intrigue,

To include a coffin as a bed,

Helping tragic roles.

Over theatrical years roles

Led to a part in La Tosca -

In the final scene, her jump

Off a parapet injured

Her right knee and without

Healing correctly, led

To gangrene and complete

Amputation of the leg.

Despite this tragedy, Sarah

Bernhardt continued

To perform and sometimes

Without her false wooden

Leg - after a 1915 tour across

America, Bernhardt

Returned to France - to include

Performing into 1916.

May 1916 and the actress

Travelled on first visit

To the frontline trenches

Based in Toul, north

East France - motoring out

To see the troops

Bernhardt stepped onto six

Make shift stages.

Over three days she spent

Time to learn stories

Of brave deeds with men,

Apt to blushing as this

Actress heard them - one

Aviator Bernhardt

Met with medals, whose

MC had 7 palm branches.

The shared joke was where

He would put the eighth

Palm? little more than a boy

He would have them

Made smaller  - honored

To read them verses,

To add, to die in their midst

Would be an honour.

On visiting wounded solders

About to be seen by

Doctors, they insisted to wait

Until the actress had

Finished her entertainment -

These soldier audiences

Bernhardt found more inspiring

Than kings or queens.

With insistence to experience

Close quarters of the front,

Bernhardt persuaded a General

For a visit close to town

Post a Mouton - where Germans

Often bombarded, after

Objections he declared her worthy

To visit the Danger Zone.

Ms Bernhardt confessed being

Vexed, as that day the

Enemy did not fire - while good

For her party's safety

The actress, only six hundred

Yards away, would

Have been happy to pick a gun

And shoot at the Boche.

Declaring bad luck Bernhardt

Stated how her travels

In England and Scotland had

Never seen a zeppelin

Raid - closest was a few hours

After leaving one hotel -

It was half destroyed by bombs.

Sarah Bernhardt confided

As witness to allied determination.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Mme. Sarah Bernhardt. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 May 1916. P.8. Col.6. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12210082/Daily-Telegraph-May-15-1916.html>  [Accessed: 18 May 2016].

Source: File: Sarah Bernhardt. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Bernhardt> Accessed 18 May 2016

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 18 May 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12210082/Daily-Telegraph-May-15-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1France

Poem ~ Songs Of War - Saturday, 13 May - Monday, 15 May 1916

Source: File: I'll make a man of you! (Tune: I Don't Want to be a Soldier) OhWhataLovelyWar [online] : <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x308MIPPUyA> [Accessed: 13 May 2016]

Source: File: Vesta Tilley. [online] See an original image at: <https://heroinesofthestage.wordpress.com/2014/08/09/miss-towards-heroines-of-the-stage/> [Accessed: 13 May 2016]

i

Kitchener replied with pointed finger,
When the Kaiser had started to huff -

While a country went willingly to war,

What better way for all the soldiers

To go, than to sing new catchy songs.

Already well known from before, the
Lyrics of 'Its a long way to Tipperary'

Were well suited to a marching song -
Without any suggested deeds of war,

Words evoked a longing for home.

Music and war had always travelled

Together, as already well established

By the Music Hall well before 1880s -

Popular Lilly Langtry and Marie Lloyd 

Were soon joined by new performers.

Vesta Tilley, readily known for her
Impersonations of men, with risqué 
Behaviour - to raise wary eyebrows
Playing her character 'Burlington

Bertie,' made her name before war.

ii

Vesta Tilley conceived characters

'Jack Tar Home from Sea' - another

Was 'Tommy In the Trench' - with

Husband Walter to commence a drive

For recruitment, gaining a new name.

Now Britain’s greatest recruitment

Sergeant, Great littlie Tilley sang

'Jolly Good Luck to the Girl Who

Loves a Soldier,' to bring men onto

Stage - persuading them how Army 

Was alright, but open to controversy.

'I’ve got a it of a Blighty one,' Tilley

Sang as a soldier glad to wounded

Home - not exactly what the war

Office wanted to hear – many songs

Had the power to inspire peoples

Patriotism and to gain manpower.

Song sources knew no borders -

With American tunes popularity 

Flows of songs emerged from pen

Of Wenrich, as in 'When You Wore

A Tulip - I Wore a Big Red Rose.'

iii

Back home pianos had centre

Place in many families’ parlors -

With boys away at war, families

Sang same songs as brothers,

Sons or fathers - old or new tunes
Marched them on the road to war.

In eager backing of government,

Propaganda and music became

Well matched - the medium stirred

Public to join British army - 'Keep 
The home Fires burning’ by Ford 
And Novella; a sweethearts ideal.

Brothers Felix and George Powell

Played the London Hippodrome. In

A break George wrote some lines

Of a song, that Felix had idly fitted 

Music too - only to see it as 'Piffle'
George stored it under song 'duds.'

iV

While across the water in New York,

Music publishers Day and Hunter

Decided to offer 100 guineas, to find

A marching song for fighting troops -

The Powell brothers looked at their

Rejected song to revise and enter.

Talents had by end of 1914, seen

Release by Mark Sheridan a singer

Of seaside songs, with 'Belgium Put

The Kibosh on the Kaiser' - inspired

By BEF's halt of the Schlieffen Plan.

A few moths passed - a telegram

To Powell brothers told them they

Had won first prize with composition,

'Pack Up your Troubles In Your Old

Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile’ -

Its popularity was in it's simplicity.

This song praised the Tommy who

Could remain cheery, in the worst

Conditions - with the simple luxury

Of a Lucifer match to light his fag,

All to return the Tommy's smile -

Powell brothers were onto a winner.

V

With the 'kitbag song' quick to prove

A hit, other older compositions were

Revived - the popular 'Mademoiselle

From Armentieres' made resurgence -

New, adaptable, French risqué words

Leading to claims by several writers.

Alternatively 'three German Officers

Crossed the Rhine' - depicted enemy

Having a jolly good time - to result

In illegitimacy, leading to birth of a fat

Prussian, to grow up without morals.

Other words told how Mademoiselle

Had not been kissed for some forty

Years - while a more demure Colette,

With sea-blue eyes, was seen by

Lawyer Frederic Weatherly - a lady

Who evoked the Roses of Picardy.

One night Frederic Weatherly travelled

Home by London bus when suddenly

The refrain hit the lawyer - he jumped

To the street to stand beneath a lamp,

Putting down the idea on an envelope.

With subject of a love affair, music sheet
Sales quickly hit record 50,000 monthly -

Sentimental Images of Colette in Picardy

Prompted eager young men to sing while
Waiting to enlist for France and Flanders.

Vi

As a weapon of war, songs

Played their part, popularised

By the singers of the day - those

Early volunteers in rallying, sang
Of kitbags and roses - out to hit

The Kaiser only to yearn for home.

Both comedians and singers

Were playing their parts - along

With government policies, to be

The official and unofficial drivers

To recruitment, as civil heroes.

In new stars of stage and song

These included Harry Champion,

Harry Lauder, George Formby,

Gertie Gitana, Marie Lloyd

And Vesta Tilley, among many

Others, to set the pace of time.

Vii

Many artists and composers

Took inspirations, whose lyrics

Cleverly caught a keen public -

Writers Wimperis and Finck

Worked out the ultimate song

For voluntary recruitment rallys.

Calling out to youngest men by

A flirty lady, who dated military

Men - the purpose of her task,

As sung by Minnie Love, would

Make them all better soldiers.

In a call to other girls to walk out

With an army and the navy, her 
Dates included; a Hussar, a baby
Boy scout, a Scottie, a rifleman in
Green and a captain of the crew. 

Not to forget time with a bosun

A day later a Sub and Marine -

Finally with a midshipman or two.

She'd offer her services if a man

In front would take king's shilling;

A long war promised many songs.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: The 10 best: first world war music. Online. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/07/the-10-best-first-world-war-music> Accessed 13 May 2016

Source: File: Music Hall. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_hall> Accessed 13 May 2016

Source: File: Mademoiselle from Armentières. Online. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mademoiselle_from_Armenti%C3%A8res> Accessed 13 May 2016

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 13 May 2016). 

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1songs

Poem ~ Comics in Recruitment - Sunday, 5 September 1915

Impression sketch of George Robey, Comedian - by Jamie. See original at:

http://www.mqmagazine.co.uk/issue-13/p-39.php

At a central site in central London,

Trafalgar square was seen

As place for many rallies -

Such a thoroughfare always able

To gain an audience.

On 3 September 1915, well known

Names came to gain recruits,

For 2nd (Territorial)

Battalion of the London Regiment,

Royal Fusiliers.

Recruitment rallies were nothing

New - varied ways to gain

Attention involved aid

Of many a contemporary celebrity -

As in those of Music Halls.

By start of autumn, a September

day, was to see presence

Of Music Hall figures;

George Robey - alongside a Mrs Pye

Who lost a baby on Lusitania.

On stage with Leo Dryden - singer

Of patriotic songs - the two

Comics turned serious

In their address to depict England,

Under rule of Germany.

George Robey famed in eccentric

Characters, made appeal

To 'do their little bit.'

Cheers were raised as some recruits

Responded to call.

To follow previous footsteps,

Of funny man Harry Tate

And a songstress,

Violet Loraine - Singer Leo Dryden

Made his address.

Stepping up to sing to crowd,

Leo Dryden, wearing the

Uniform of a recruiter,

Sang 'The message from the Man

Behind the Gun.'

The Trafalgar audience cheered

To song of 'India's Reply,'

To the Music Hall man,

In his League of Frontiersmen

Uniform.

Such comics were to be seen in new

Light with their serious presence -

Like Leo Dryden, in his part

As paramilitary - fearful of invasion

Since 1905.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. George Robey As Recruiter - Address In Trafalgar-Square. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 4 September. P.9. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11817052/Daily-Telegraph-September-4-1915.html [Accessed: 5 September 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 5 September 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11817052/Daily-Telegraph-September-4-1915.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Grace in the War Zone - Tuesday, 24 August 1915

Impression sketch of Grace Ellison  - by Jamie. See original at: 

A feminist Journalist, Grace Ellison,

A seeker of independence for women -

And ardent suffragette - took a journey

Out into the war zone.

Having seen the nurse at work

On frontline, drove deeper into a city

Laid into ruins - parking close by some

Cathedral Grace walked to where stood

French warrior, Jeanne De Arc.

The medieval figure, atop her horse,

Stood unharmed before the bombed 

Religious house - about her shoulders

Being wrapped flag of France.

Wishing she might have brought

The British flag for shared purpose,

Grace placed lilies by the statue's feet,

To walk across deserted streets.

At the wheel, Grace drove about

The cathedral that appeared to her 

As some bandaged soldier; propped

With hopeless sandbags - all carved

Ancient ornamentation gone.

Asking that no restoration attempts

Be made - to be a call to the children’s

Children and beyond - a barbaric symbol

Of lessons, cruelly learned.

Amid the unnamed city streets,

Grace walked - knowing what is left

Of population resided in cellars - while

Treating shells as thunderstorms.

From the peoples shelters to reappear

In the place, that had been a trade stand

For wool - where enemy once lived, to know

Where guns aim on ancient quarter.

Pondering amid the ruins, Grace

Considered the idea of souvenirs,

When a uniformed figure from ruins,

Was surprised to find her there.

In explanation of her mission

The officer offered his services,

Handed her a piece of the cathedral,

Proceeding to state its history.

Amid a story of ruins they looked

To where a French craft hovered above;

About which enemy smoke prompts rapid

Departure so they walked on.

Stopping by a shop with no door

They observed a youth carrying out

A barber's profession - as his sister sits,

To sell postcards of the ruins.

Then a German craft hovers

Overhead, and the office advises

Shelter in a cellar, but Grace refuses

To risk life outside, not inside.

Under ruins had no attraction -

As a bomb falls, Grace debated

To go on the high road - the sun sank

And the guns boom in distance.

Grace and officer lingered too

Long, when a line of soldiers comes

On - weary they sang and pick wayside

Flowers for their khaki coats.

Black as coal miners, they act

As going to a music hall than facing

A line of gunnery - one stated consolation

In their being able to sing.

To see a lady, not a nurse, in midst

Encourages them to tell this journalist

Everything, before Grace moved on to meet

French Nursing Corps.

Nurses based in a small village

Without any accommodation, Grace

Learned how a commanding officer offered

Shelter for the travelling journalist. 

Soon expected for dinner, into dusk

They drove - a road takes them is uneasy,

With twists and stones, to halt before another

Car, which is just a shadow.

On a mystery road to presbytery,

Where the commander lives, they take

Four imaginary turnings, to then pass by,

When fortune's guide appears.

As some good shepherd, with

White beard and staff, he showed way,

Leading the car like some biblical guide -

Finally to arrive at presbytery.

The place being cold and damp -

Deserted by the priest gone to war,

Whose mother still remained to look after

The visitors with food and fires.

Shown to her son's room where

Obligatory cross of the saviour's meek

Figure hung above the bed - to open wide

The window, un-tuned to sanctity.

Beyond presbytery is pitch black.

Downstairs loud officers assembled

Numbering ten gather in dining room - neat

With linen, silverware and flowers.

Levels of class were perpetuated,

While kitchen housed two chauffeurs,

Some domesticated refugees, an officer's

Servant, the shepherd and mother.

Who ate separately - before meal

The commanding officer initially sang

In company of an able officer organist, along

With Lieutenant on asthmatic harmonica, 

With Journalist eyes, Grace saw

How room vibrated to his strong voice.

They eat in happy company, as they confess

Tedium of waiting, waiting.

Talking distractions of riding,

Then followed more singing after eating-

The harmonica silenced - the large voice

Being left to perform alone.

the clock struck ten precisely.

After a cup of tea they all retired

For sleep, Grace learning why the man,

Who served them, had cried.

He told how his wife had been

Taken by the Germans - he knew

Not if she might then still be alive or dead;

Confiding to those in kitchen.

With breakfast to be prompt

At five a.m. the refugees and cure's

Mother made their beds on the landing -

With chauffeurs downstairs.

In goodnights Grace Ellison

Tired, then retired to her little, white

Washed room, to lay upon the narrow bed

With Christ overhead.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. An Englishwoman in the War Zone ii Motor Trip. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 23 August. P.7 Col 1-2. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11801605/Daily-Telegraph-August-24-1915.html [Accessed: 24 August 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 24 August 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11801605/Daily-Telegraph-August-24-1915.html

 http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1France

Poem ~ Factory Follies - Tuesday, 17 August 1915

Impression sketch of Pierrot troops - by Jamie. 

In one small town, some safe miles

Behind the lines, a transformation

Had taken place, some time before

To turn a factory into a theatre.

An unnamed division had then begun

A troupe of the follies at this base

They had preformed for more than six

Months entertaining audiences

The artists included two actual girls,

In roles of dancers to wear pink

Costumes, with four men of rank,

In the company of one officer.

The male troupes uniforms were white-

Being Pierrot costumes with frills

And red bobs, as they acted out on

Stage made from rough planks.

Their audiences was open to every

Man, a gold-capped general may

Sit by a private - a difference being

1f for a man and 2f for officers.

By use of facial expression and faces

Chalked the troupes of humourists

Could raise the laughter louder - with

Various most popular songs sung.

The dancing girls had most popularity

Said to have artistic merit – this

Mixed troupe had begun back in winter 

Months to raise the army's morale.

Mid winter demoralisation had to be

Countered - with trenches deep

In mud and water, Military authorities

Knew importance of raising spirits.

Such escape offered brief relief from

These physical and metal strains

Of fighting in such conditions, so follies

Fame spread through army.

Such was popularity of these follies

Another division had devised

Their own group of artists to be

Named as the fancies.

The performers performance improved

With rehearsals and practice with

Making adaptations of their materials,

And introduced a variety of songs.

The one criticism centred on fact how

Their songs were not particularly

Current - so appeals was made for new

Songs to have appealing chorus.

 by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915 Cheering the Soldier - The Army 'Follies'. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 17 August. P.10. Col.3. Available at:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11796898/Daily-Telegraph-August-17-1915.html [Accessed: 17 August 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 17 August 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11796898/Daily-Telegraph-August-17-1915.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered #WW1Entertainment